


shut out the lights & say goodnight

by heroic



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25926277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heroic/pseuds/heroic
Summary: "I have perhaps done you a disservice, and owe you some apologies."OR: Jude and Cardan talk in the quiet early morning.
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 2
Kudos: 120





	shut out the lights & say goodnight

They are pressed side by side in the early morning light when Jude broaches the topic. Here, things are different than they are in the dark. Cardan is lazy, sleepy and satiated in their marriage bed, looking comfortable lounging in the hazy light. His shirt is loosened, hair mused from sleep. He drags his fingers against Jude’s skin wherever he reaches; her waist, her arms, sometimes as simple as her hair.

Jude swallows. “I have perhaps done you a disservice, and owe you some apologies. I apologize for deceiving you, for forcing your hand. But I will not apologize for killing your brother, who wanted you dead to secure the blood crown for himself, who forced me to kiss him repeatedly as if he were you in the Undersea.”

Cardan’s eyes darken. “No,” he says, continuing brushing against her skin. “I suppose you wouldn’t.”

“I won’t,” Jude agrees, locking her jaw. “And I will not apologize for much else.”

Cardan nods. “I suppose I owe you an apology as well,” he says. He glances up at her. “I am sorry for the way I treated you while we were students. And I am sorry you did not realize my trick sooner. But I am not sorry for exiling you, nor am I sorry for hurting you.”

Jude inhales, shutting her eyes. It is what she expected, but the wound still feels fresh; she thinks it will always ache, being forced away from her home, her kingdom. “You will elaborate on that last one,” she says.

Cardan works his jaw for a second, considering his words. He taps his fingers against her thigh, against a scar she cannot remember receiving. “I thought perhaps you had never felt anything for me at all,” Cardan says. “You being hurt meant you still cared.”

“I always cared,” Jude says.

“About me,” Cardan clarifies. He looks away from her. “For a long time, I thought hurting you was the only thing I would ever get. I will never not appreciate that.”

Jude nods. She can understand that, in an awful way. Hurting Cardan felt good in retribution, in the power it gave her over him. “There is still something you must apologize for.”

Cardan frowns, his eyebrows furrowing as he looks back at her. He ceases his movements, hand sitting atop her thigh. “There is?” He sounds genuinely confused.

“For making me fall in love with you,” Jude replies solemnly.

Cardan’s grin is breathtaking, sly and wonderful. “No,” he says, pulling her to his chest and rolling them over on the bed. Jude cannot resist an unabashed bark of laughter, and his smile only seems to grow. “I don’t think I will ever apologize for that.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written on December 4th, 2019. I miss my kids so much.


End file.
